


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







' 


THE 


i': 


PROGRESS 


\ O re ! 


gon and Portland 




-pRoyw 1868 to i8j8, 




BY 

WILLIAM REID, 




Secretary of the Portland Board of Trade. 


: : 


■ 1 

1 

■ 

PORTLAND, OREGON : 
D. H. Stearns & Co., Publishers. 


I 


1878. 



Copyright, 7879, by D. H. STEARNS & CO. 




ZE= :E3 O Gr IE3 IE s s 



O F 



Oregon and Portland 



FROM 1868 TO 1878. 



BY WILLIAM REID, 
Secretary Board of Trade of Portland, Oregon. 



The progress made by the State of Oregon and the city 
of Portland during the last ten years has been remarkable 
and brought about by no speculative movement, but by a 
gradual increase of population and mutual confidence based- 
upon theract that we had here, on this North Pacific Coast,. 
JLi.r^tne resources which constitute material wealth. We 
have concluded that a retrospective glance of our progress 
since 1S68 will make our readers fix with confidence that 
nihire which surely awaits our people. 

POPULATION. 

On the ist January, 1868, the population of the entire- 
State was 80,161, while the population of Portland was 6,717^ 
vSalem, 1,200; Albany, 856; and Astoria, 556. . Of this num- 
ber scarcely 10,000 persons were then located in Eastera 
Oregon. Two years later on, ist January, 1870, the State's 
population was 90,983, while the number of inhabitants \\~i- 



\ 



m 



2 

Portland, owing to the building of the East and West Side 
Railroads, had increased from 6,717, on the 1st of January, 
%868, to 11,103, on the 1st of January, 1872. From that time 
to the end of 1874 very little increase was made in the popu- 
lation of Portland. Jay Cooke & Co.'s failure and stoppage 

- of the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, together 
with cessation of the proposed extension of the Oregon and 
.California and Oregon Central Railroads, gave the people 
season to believe that hard times were coming, and numbers 
of Portland's old residents, then left the State in search 

A>of new homes, returning, as the majority of them did, the 

(following and succeeding years. During 1874 the population of 

3oth the State and the city had not increased much. Portland 

Ikad, on the 1st of January, 1S74, 12,459 inhabitants, while the 
State's population aggregated 95,673 persons that year. Im- 
migration had so much fallen off in 1S74, that the writer, who 
•then arrived in the State, found only forty-eight persons on 
board the steamer for Oregon — and this was in the month of 
May, which is now generally considered the heaviest month 
m the year for the arrival of immigrants. From 1S75 to 1S78, 
W'tk the population of the State, Portland and Astoria had 

"increased wonderfully — Oregon being now estimated to con- 
tain 150,000 persons; Portland, close on to 20,000; and As- 
toria, from 800 in 1874, to 1,500 in 1878. But the most rapid 
stride in population has been in Eastern Oregon. In 1874, 
the entire number of white persons therein amounted to only 
12,000, and to-day official statistics show there are now in 
Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory close on 
tr> 50,000 persons. 

"WHEAT AND FLOUR EXPORTS. 

During the year ending 1st January, 186S, Oregon exported 
120,980 barrels of flour and only 45,810 centals of wheat, 
none of which was sent to foreign countries. This was con- 
sidered a remarkable increase over the year ending 1st Jan- 



nary, 1867, when only 29,811 barrels of flour were exported. 
In 1869, the total values of wheat and flour exports amounted 
to $589,872. But 1870 ought to be considered the most 
memorable in our foreign career. In that year Oregon com- 
menced to do a direct foreign trade with Europe, and des- 
patched from the Columbia river twelve vessels with 189,892 
centals of wheat of the value of $379,618. Our united ex- 
ports of wheat and flour to all countries in that year having 
amounted to $1,050,522. We then felt that our commercial 
independence was close at hand, and the succeeding year, 
1 87 1-72, there was despatched to Europe twelve other ships 
of larger tonnage, with 242,759 centals of wheat of the value 
of $531,689. So successful had these ventures become that 
the next year we more than doubled our foreign exports of 
wheat; having in 1872-73 despatched to Europe twenty-four 
vessels with 509,430 centals of wheat. The next year, 1872-4, 
Oregon tried the export of flour to Europe, and shipped 
97,600 barrels; and 999,382 centals of wheat to the United 
Kingdom in fifty-four vessels, receiving in return therefor 
$2,435,794. Our total receipts from wheat and flour exports 
in that same year amounted to $4,037,008 — a remarkable in- 
crease in two years, unparalleled in the history of any other 
State or British Colony. In 1874-5 we despatched to Europe, 
China and Australia seventy-three vessels with 1,299,318 cen- 
tals of wheat and 116,000 barrels of flour — in addition to 
826,322 centals of wheat exported to California and other 
countries, the total exports, reducing flour to wheat, that year, 
1875-6, being 2,563,539 centals. The year ending 1st August, 
1S77, did not show any increase of exports in quantity over 
the preceding year, but the values were considerably higher. 
Our last harvest year, ending 1st August, 1878, we exported 
to all countries, including San Francisco, British Columbia 
and Puget Sound, 3,520,16; centals of wheat, including flour, 
of the aggregate value of $5,635,156. From these figures it 
will be seen that we are making rapid strides in the produc- 



tion and export of wheat, and bid fair at no distant day to 
export ten to twelve millions of centals of wheat annually. 
Those of our readers who doubt this statement should con- 
sider the following facts : That to Great Britain alone, in 
1S73-4, we exported 49,469 tons of wheat; increased next year 
to 64,939 tons; tne y ear ending 1st August, 1S76, to 79,911 
tons; to the 1st August, 1877, 112,697 tons; while to all 
countries for the year ending 1st August, 1S78, we had ex- 
ported 176,000 tons of wmeat, including flour. A perusal of 
these facts, carefully considered, w r ill enable the intelligent 
merchant to see that if Oregon, with a population now of 150,- 
000 persons, continues during the next ten years to increase 
produce and export wheat as she has done during the last de- 
cade, our State will soon take rank as the greatest wheat pro- 
ducing State in the Union. 

SHIPPING TRADE OF OREGON. 

In 1868 the gross tonnage of vessels which arrived in the 
Columbia river was 19,966, and the departures 16,022, includ- 
ing steamers to and from San Francisco; whereas, in 1870 the 
tonnage arrivals amounted to 56,882 tons register, and the de- 
partures to 76,617, an increase of 300 per cent, on arrivals, 
and nearly 400 per cent, on departures, during a period of eight 
years. In 186S there were 47 vessels went to sea over the 
bar; 106 in 1874, carrying 71,012 tons; 108 in 1875, carrying 
134,500 tons; 231 in 1877, carrying 154,459 tons, and 256 in 
1877, carrying 232,797 tons, while in 1868 the total tons car- 
ried to sea over the bar by all classes of vessels was 23,367. 
It will thus be seen that our shipping progress has been each 
year increasing rapidly since 186S. This, however, is more 
fully exemplified by the 

INCREASE OF RIVER STEAMBOAT TRADE. 

In 1868 we received at Portland by river steamers, 418,968 
sacks of flour and 55,368 sacks of wheat; and there was then 



only nine steamers engaged in the carrying trade on our 
rivers, with a registered tonnage of 2,179. In 1S75 ^ ne Ore- 
gon Steam Navigation Company, Oregon Steamship Com- 
pany and Willamette Transportation Company, had together 
thirty-two steamers and barges, with an aggregate tonnage of 
12,998 alone, in addition to which other individuals then 
owned twelve smaller steamers of the aggregate tonnage of 
2,473 tons. In 1878 the river steamers plying on the Colum- 
bia and Willamette rivers, including three steams tugs on the 
Columbia bar, numbered seventy-two, with an aggregate reg- 
istered tonnage of 25,089. In addition to which there are 
twenty river barges, of the united tonnage of 5,661 tons. 
These statistics, apart from any others, conclusively prove the 
immense development which Oregon and the country along 
and on both sides of the Columbia river has been making dur- 
ing the last ten years. The productions raised by our farming 
population, necessitated greater transportation facilities and 
new steamers each "year, and when it is borne in mind that 
besides these river steamers we have two railroads 250 miles 
in length, carrying to Portland daily large quantities of wheat 
and flour and other produce, we can see at a glance the increase 
of the internal carrying trade during the last ten years. 

OCEAN STEAMER TRADE. 

It is an admitted fact that however much we may develop 
our foreign export trade each year, yet our nearness to San 
Francisco will always cause us to maintain a line or two of 
ocean steamers between Portland and San Francisco. Cer- 
tainly we do now and will continue, until direct railroad con- 
nection is secured, to receive all or the greater portion of our 
passenger and immigrant traffic via San Francisco, and con- 
sequently it is of the ut*nost necessity that the safety of the lives 
of our people should be carefully looked after. From 1S6S, 
wh«i the "Pacific," "Montana," "Fideliter," "Oriflamme," and 
•"Continental" were the steamers which traded between these 



6 

ports, we could not and did not considered it perfectly safe to 
travel to San Francisco. When the "Ajax" and "John L. 
Stephens" were added a slight improvement was felt — never- 
theless it was a recognized fact among the community, until 
the "Oregon," "Geo. W. Elder," and "City of Chester" were 
placed on the route, that a voyage to San Francisco was 
rather a perilous one in the old bottoms which then traded to 
our port. Up to ist January, 1868, the whole of our export 
trade, except to Puget Sound and Honolulu, was with San 
Francisco. Taking the manifests of the cargoes of all the 
steamers and coasters from Oregon to the Golden Gate, we 
find the value of merchandise then exported was $1,679,793; 
while the shipments by Wells, Fargo & Co. from Oregon 
mines of gold dust, bars, coin and treasure, a record of which 
was then accurately kept, amounted to $4,000,100. In 1869 
and 1870, these gold shipments fell off, and in their place we 
shipped to the Bay City increased quantities of produce and 
merchandise, until for the year ending ist August, 1875, our 
produce exports to San Francisco amounted in value to $4,- 
155,025; the year ending ist August, 1877, to $5,329,192; and 
the year ending ist August, 1S78, to $6,124,491. In 1873 
and 1S74 the passenger traffic by the ocean steamers between 
San Francisco and Portland had fallen off considerably and at 
the end of each of these years Oregon had not gained more 
than 800 to 1,000 per year of arrivals of departures. From 
ist August, 1S75, to ist August, 1S76, a manifest increase had 
taken place in the passenger travel. During that year the 
State Board of Immigration reported to the Legislature a gain 
of 11,213 persons in population for the twenty months pre- 
ceding the ist August, 1S76, of which it was ascertained 9,- 
563 had come by the ocean steamers via San Francisco. 
From ist August, 1876, to ist August/1877, the total number 
of persons who arrived by ocean steamers (excluding soldiers 
and Chinamen and children under three years) at Portland^ 
numbered 12,843 and during the year 1S7S, the estimated gain 



in population to the State of Oregon is upwards of 20,000, trie 
most of which arrived per Oregon steamers via San Francisco. 
While, therefore, it is a source of deep regret to our people 
that we have.no railroad connection with the outer world, yet 
the people of Oregon ought now to congratulate themselves 
on having secured such magnificent ocean steamers as the 
"State of California," "Oregon," "Geo. W. Elder," "Chester," 
and "Great Republic," and the large and increasing quantities 
of freight and passengers which they carry between Oregon 
and San Francisco, is a fair index that this travel is to increase 
still more in the future. 

COMMERCE OF OREGON FROM 1868 TO 18T8U 

Prior to 1868, the shipments of gold dust, bars and treasure,,:: 
formed in value three-fourths of all the exports of Oregon,., 
but these gold shipments have gradually fallen off, until 1872,,, 
when the State had little to show of gold exports. In 1S6S 
the total exports of merchandise from the Columbia river 
amounted to $1,780,408; in 1S70 there was very little increase^ 
but in 1S73 the gross exports of merchandise amounted to 
$4,124,606, excluding treasure. The dutiable imports from- 
foreign countries rose from $90,500 in i860 to $809,540 in& 
1S72, while the foreign exports during the like period kepi! 
in the same proportion until 1872, when the foreign exports 
only amounted to $778,376, so that the balance of foreign- 
trade w^as, in that year, against Oregon. She rapidly, how- 
ever, afterwards, recovered this loss, for the direct imports- 
from foreign countries fell away from $805,540 in 1872,..^ 
$475,508 in 1877, while our foreign exports in the saoae 
period (five years) rose from $779,376 in 1872, to $1,498,722 
in 1874, and afterwards to $3,990,191 in 1S77 ; showing avast 
gain annually of exports over imports from 1871 to 1S77. 

The year ending 1st August, 1875, the gross exports of 
produce and merchandise from Oregon amounted to $10,176,- 
251, or, deducting shipments of treasure per Wells, Fargo & 
Co., of $2,278,250, (which properly are not exports) our owe 



8 

md total exports for the year ending ist August, 1875, 
.amounted to $9,175,087; the year ending ist August, 1877, 
to $11,571,355; and the year just closed, ending ist August, 
1878, to $14,644,973. The details of these exports during the 
years just mentioned, are made up from the annual reports of 
the Board of Trade, and are therefore authentic. As regards 
our imports it is well-known that since 1873 only one-third 
■of our foreign imports come direct to Portland — the other 
^.two-thirds coming via San Francisco, where the duties are 
gpald. It is therefore impossible to give a correct detail of our 
^import trade and contrast the same with our exports. Enough, 
^however, is known to satisfy us that the balance of trade has 
■been very much in our favor since 1872. These figures indi- 
« xate the progress and improvement made in our commerce 
since 1868, and argue well for the future. The foreign direct 
^imports consists principally of sugar, salt, liquors, coal, cloth- 
-ing, grain sacks, and tin for canning purposes, rice, nut oil, 
crockery and glassware. Within the last three years several 
.English firms have opened houses at Portland, and San 
^Francisco agencies here have also increased. The export 
.trade with China and Australia has, however, fallen off, and 
the cargoes of lumber which we formerly shipped to these 
-countries are now despatched by our neighbors on Puget 
.Sound. One vast gain to the commerce of Oregon has been 
the dissemination of information during the last five years as 
to the safety of the Columbia bar, together with a free circu- 
lation abroad of pamphlets, charts, maps and other guides to 
mariners, which have had the desired effect of encouraging 
.shipowners to send their vessels to Portland and Astoria for 
wheat cargoes, as evidenced by the fact that in 1873, so little 
mas known in Europe as to the Columbia river bar that ships 
received freights varying from =£4 15s to £6 per ton from 
Portland to the United Kingdon; whereas, during the year 
.1878 freights to that country ranged from £2 10s to £1 15s 
per ton — a favorable change during a period of five years, and 



9 

which has enriched the farmers of Oregon — by enabling the 
wheat exporter to give more to the producer for his wheat. 

VALUE OF FARM LANDS SINGE 1868. 

In 1S6S, prairie and fair improved farming lands in Linn, 
Lane and Yamhill counties, and generally over the Willam- 
ette valley, could easily be obtained from $15 to $20 per 
acre, while distant brush lands, or what is now called oak 
grub land, was selling at $3 to $4 per acre. When the 
Oregon & California and Oregon Central railroads were 
built, farm lands were sold at what was then considered spec- 
ulative prices, $25 to $30 per acre, and afterwards, in 1872 
and 1873, a reaction took place, when prices of fair farming 
lands fell to $20 per acre. This did not long continue, how- 
ever, and in 1875, 1876, 1877 and 1878, prices kept gradually 
advancing, and instead of large tracts, as was common in 1872 
and 1873, being in the hands of a few individuals, unable, as 
they were then, (and often still are) to cultivate the same, we 
find now that the majority of our best farming lands in the 
Willamette valley are held in tracts of 160 to 320 acres, and 
at firm prices of $30 to $40, and occasionally, as around Al- 
bany and Salem, at $50 to $60 per acre. Light oak lands, 
which in 1870 commanded $5 per acre, cannot so easily now 
be obtained in advantageous locations at less than $12 to $15 
per acre. While hill cleared lands, which were then regarded 
as fit for pasture merely, and were selling at $10 per acre, now 
command $20 to $25 per acre, dependent on the location and 
county. An instance of how little was formerly known as to 
the value and productiveness of these hill lands is seen in the 
case of the Waldo hills around Salem, which are of a red 
color, highly productive, easily workable and rich in soil. 
There, although contiguous to Salem, to good roads, to rail- 
roads and steamboats, it was difficult to obtain more than $7 
to $8 per acre for these lands when cleared ; whereas, to-day 
they sell readily (the cleared portions) at $30 per acre, ex- 



10 

elusive of improvements. The best samples of wheat exhib- 
ited at the Centennial and Paris Expositions of 1876 and 1878, 
were raised from these hill lands. As regards improvements 
on farms, when the writer in 1S74 rode all over the Wil- 
lamette valley, he was surprised to find so few — very few — 
farms, having what would be considered habitable improve- 
ments; while the general rule was to find farmers' barns so 
poorly constructed, that the winter shelter for their cattle was 
a thing of little importance. In 1S78, however, not only do 
we find many new farm houses in the valley, but some of the 
farmers have as comfortable homes as the well-to-do Portland 
city merchant, and good new barns are the universal rule 
where a farmer has any surplus means at all. Another no- 
ticeable feature is the great improvement in fences. Every- 
where the traveler went in 1868 he was sure to see the old 
worm or snake fence — or no fence at all — and generally in a 
dilapidated condition. In 1878 it was quite the reverse. Post 
fences replaced the old fence, and a general improvement in 
fences was seen all over the valley. Another improvement 
of great public importance is seen in the immense tracts of 
brush land in Yamhill, Marion, Polk and Clackamas counties, 
converted since 1874 into wheat lands. So extensive has this 
improvement taken place that the aspect and appearance of 
several districts have been so changed as scarcely to be recog- 
nized. In the Waldo hills clearing operations, both east and 
west, have put into cultivation large tracts of land which 
hitherto were unproductive and worthless. So also in the 
Polk and Benton hills. The present values of Willamette 
valley farms are bound to be maintained, and although not 
desirable, the indications are that they will go very much 
higher — especially in the eastern portion of Lane, Linn and 
Marion, where a narrow gauge railroad is being projected 
from Springfield, in Lane county, to Salem. At present the 
value of lands in this stretch of country, seventy-five miles in 
length, is thirty-five to fifty per cent, less than in the western 



11 

portions of the same counties. A greater progress in values^ 
however, has taken place in the Walla Walla valley and dis- 
tricts around same. In 1868, improved land, which now sells 
there at $20 to $25 per acre, was sold for $2.50 per acre, and 
in 1S73 the same land was selling at $8 per acre. All along 
Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory, up as far 
as Lewiston, an advance in values of farm lands has been 
maintained, although not to the same extent as in the Walla 
Walla valley. Improved agricultural lands sell in the Lewis* 
ton and Palouse valley districts for $6 to $10 per acre. In 
the Umpqua valley, in Southwestern Oregon, good farming 
lands, prior to the opening of the railroad to Roseburg, were 
selling at $5 to $6 per acre, now find purchasers at $15 
to $16 — frequently $20 per acre. In Southern Oregon there 
has been little advance during the past ten years. Certainly 
lands have maintained their former values. In some cases — 
owing to local circumstances, have advanced slightly, but as a 
general rule the want of transportation facilities has retarded 
both the settlement and development of Southern Oregon. 

OUR SALMON FISHERIES AND EXPORTS 

These exist on the Columbia, Willamette, and Umpqua 
rivers — on Puget Sound Basin, and those smaller rivers flow- 
ing into the sea, — all of which have inexhaustible supplies of 
salmon weighing 16 to 70 lbs., averaging each 25 lbs. The. 
"Chinook" salmon on the Columbia is the finest. Considerable 
capital is invested in this industry, which yields large profits. 
The foreign demand is unlimited, especially in England, Bos- 
ton, New York, and Australia. In 1868 Oregon and Washing- 
ton Territory had not commenced the export of salmon, which 
industry has only progressed during the last seven years. 1S71 
was the first year we exported canned salmon; 30,000 cases real- 
ized $150,000. In 1873 91,000 cases realized $501,000, at 
which time salmon was so plentiful and so cheap the enterprise 
was very profi table, and the foreign demand had so increased 



12 

that'our people were wild with excitement, and as a necessary 
consequence canneries were erected on both sides of the Colum- 
bia river, even as far up as the Cascades. These canneries in- 
creased the production and gradually drained the river, and 
pur salmon fisheries, to which we had looked forward as 
forever practically inexhaustible, became endangered through 
Want of proper legislation. In 1875 there were 330,000 cases 
exported, which realized $1,650,000. In 1876 the capacity of 
all old canneries was increased, and new canneries were then 
being still erected. So great had this industry extended that 
in the end of 1S76 there were thirty canneries in operation, 
with a united capacity for canning 795,000 cases of salmon. In 
that year, however, we reached our maximum production, hav- 
ing then exported 479,000 cases, which realized to our people 
$2,598,000. In 1877 we exported 389,508 cases, receiving there- 
for $2,338,000. But the catch of that year and of 1878 — which 
latter was only 345,000 cases — conclusively proved that without 
legislation and the necessary protection to our salmon this valu- 
able commercial product would soon be lost to our people. 
Accordingly both the legislatures of Oregon and Washington 
Territory have passed joint laws, which take effect this pres- 
ent month for the protection of these salmon fisheries, and 
to raise a revenue each year to propagate and still more de- 
velop and increase the artificial production of salmon. This 
legislation has placed our salmon canneries on a firmer basis, 
and given those engaged in the industry greater confidence. 
The foreign demand has become a settled fact, and Oregon 
canned salmon is being used in nearly all civilized countries 
as a daily article of diet. With careful management and wise 
laws there is no reason to doubt but that the future exports of 
our canned salmon will increase each year. Salmon trout are 
wonderfully prolific in every stream, and too easy to catch to 
render it good sport. Oyster fisheries exist at Tillamook and 
Yaquina bays, and employ a small fleet of schooners in trans- 
porting the oysters to San Francisco and Portland. There 



13 

are two factories at Astoria for manufacturing salmon oil from 
the refuse of salmon. Herrings of excellent flavor, come from 
April and go on all through the summer. 

INCREASE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

In 1S68 the total wheat raised in Oregon was 1,535,000 bush- 
els; in 1870, 2,270,000 bushels, in 1S73, 3,127,000 bushels; in 
1S75, 5,251,102 bushels, and in 1877^ 7,896,676 bushels. The 
State census returns place the figure at 9,251,102 bushels, 
but this is incorrect. These figures indicate a rapid progress, 
and considering that the State's population in 1877 was about 
126,000 persons, including cities and towns, it will thus be seen 
that the quantity of wheat raked was 66 bushels to every man, 
woman and child in the State — or an average of 19 bushels 
per acre, and the price obtained that year was $1 75 to $2 10 
per cental. In 1869 the quantity of wool produced all over 
the State was 1,066,455 ^ s * °^ which there was exported to 
San Francisco 3,190 bales, of the value of $134,749. In 1871 
there was 1,750,600 lbs, of wool produced; in 1S73, 2,036,000 
lbs.; in 1875, 2,638,050^8., while in 1S77 we raised 5,736,650 
ibs., of which we exported to San Francisco alone, as admitted 
by the Chamber of Commerce of that city, 4,929,675 lbs. 
The value of our wool exports had increased from $134,749 
in 1869 to $756,000 in 1876, and to $998,305 in 1877, and 1S7S 
returns show it to be $1,267,373, an increase of 750 per cent* 
in eight years. This is not all: the quality each year of our 
wool has so much improved that Oregon wool now commands 
(like our wheat) the highest prices in the Boston market, and 
received medals and diplomas at the Centennial of 1876 for 
(using the words of the Commissioners) "Merino wool, very 
fine specimens of fine fibre and good staple, very much resem- 
bling Australian wool, and giving evidence that Oregon can 
produce wool of very great value." The woolen mills in our 
State consume a considerable portion of the crop each year, 
and their consumption is always increasing. Oregon has al- 
ways been famed for producing a good quality of oats, which 



14 

chiefly find a market in this State, Puget Sound, British Co- 
lumbia and in California. In 1870 we raised 2,029,909 bushels 
of oats; in 1875, 2,983,086 bushels, which realized $1,657,563, 
and in 1877? 4,1 27,663 bushels, averaging 35 bushels to the 
acre, from which we exported to San Francisco 135,153 sacks. 
But this article of commerce fluctuates more than any other 
agricultural product raised in Oregon on account of the wide 
difference in prices between one year and another, caused by 
there being a large or small crop of oats for the time being in 
California, an instance of which is found in the fact that dur- 
ing 1875 Oregon sent to California 172,411 centals of oats, 
while the total receipts at San Francisco of oats from Califor- 
nia that year was only 112,130 centals, consequently we ex- 
ported to California that year more oats than were received 
from that State at the Bay City. In the lesser agricultural pro- 
ductions, such as barley, rye, hay, potatoes and corn, we have 
during the last ten years made equally favorable progress. For 
instance, in i860, we raised 26,254 bushels of barley; in 1870, 
210,736, averaging 29 bushels per acre. In rye we raised in 
1870, 3,800 bushels, and in 1875, 17,363 bushels. In 1868 we 
raised only 27,986 tons of hay, and in 1S75, 161,433 tons, 
which realized $1,937,196. Oregon has always been famed 
as a good potato country. In 1870 Oregon raised 303,319 
bushels of potatoes, and in 1S75, 527,829 bushels. Of Indian 
corn or maize we raised only 72,133 bushels, and in 1S75, 96,- 
720 bushels, but our readers must remember that Oregon is 
no corn country, owing to the cool nights of summer. The 
intelligent reader may consider that the average per acre of 
each product raised is small compared to the amount raised 
per acre in Great Britian. This is quite true, but here in Ore- 
gon the low average is due to a very superficial knowledge — 
often no knowledge at all — of farming, and to volunteer crops. 
But while this is so, the United States Commissioner of Agri- 
culture at Washington, D. C, in his annual reports to Con- 
gress for 1876, says that in all crops, (except Indian corn), 



15 

which have been raised in the United States, Oregon far ex- 
ceeded the average of every other State in the Union, and has 
continued to do so year after year. The same officer estimates 
the value of farm productions in Oregon annually per head of 
farming population to be $539, and per head of the entire 
population of the State, $78 06, while he estimates the value 
of farm property owned by persons engaged in agriculture to 
be $2,300 per head. The amount of exports is $100 to every 
person in the State. 

INCREASE OF STOCK IN OREGON. 

It is to Eastern Oregon that we have looked for the last 
eight years for the development of our stock interests, keep- 
ing in view the fact that there are 57,416 square miles of land 
therein, which, with the exception of a very limited portion, is 
all fit either for grazing or agriculture. In 1870 we had 
318,123 sheep in the State, one-fourth of which were located 
in Eastern Oregon, one-half in the Willamette valley, and the 
remainder in Douglas county and Southern Oregon. These 
flocks kept increasing very materially in Eastern Oregon, 
until we have now (1877) 1,963,556 sheep in the State, of 
which Eastern Oregon possesses nearly two-thirds, and the 
remainder is in Western and Southern Oregon. These fig- 
ures are tested by the wool product of 1878, which realized 
upwards of 6,000,000 lbs. of wool, and as the average yield 
is about three lbs. of wool per sheep, the figures above given 
are thus below the correct number of sheep. This industry 
is bound to develop itself enormously during the next ten 
years, as evidenced by what has taken place in California. 
That State twenty years ago only produced 1,000,000 lbs. of 
wool, or less than one-fifth of what Oregon now produces, 
and it was then stated of California, as is frequently said 
to-day, that she could not produce much more; yet in 
1S76 California produced the enormous quantity of 56,550,970 
lbs. of wool, as shown by the statistics of the Chamber of 



16 

Commerce of San Francisco. The vast public domains in 
Eastern Oregon and Washington, containing together up- 
wards of 100,000 square miles of land, pre-eminently suited 
for sheep pasturage, will therefore be here as in California, 
eventually occupied by sheep ranches; and if, as statistics 
have shown, Oregon wool increased 750 per cent, the last 
eight years, it is reasonable to suppose the same increase will 
follow in the next ten years, in which case our production of 
wool would then amount to 58,960,000 lbs. In 1870 we had 
120,197 cattle in the State; in 1875, 276,466; in 1878, (no 
official returns yet received) the number is estimated at 
425,000. The prices realized in 1874 and 1875 were poor, but 
now that cattle from our Eastern ranges are transported to- 
the Union and Central Pacific Railroads for shipment to the 
Western States, prices have advanced considerably, and given 
cattle and stockmen greater encouragement to increase their 
flocks. In the raising of hogs, while we have not made that 
progress for which our State is so well adapted, yet we have 
progressed fairly. In 1870, we raised 119,455 hogs; in 1875, 
181,500. Wheat had attained such a high figure during 
these five years that farmers, instead of putting their wheat into 
hogs, sold it, and no inducement was thus afforded to cultivate 
or increase the production of hogs. A noticeable feature is 
the increase of milch cows. In 1870 we had 24,000 milch 
cows; in 1875, 80,900; and in 1878 (estimated), 93,000. The 
United States Commissioner of Agriculture points out that 
since 1872 Oregon has given more attention to dairying, and 
shows, compared with other States, the largest increase in 
numbers (per population) of cattle and milch cows. The 
raising of horses has become another favorite industry, develop- 
ing gradually. In 1870 there were 51,802 horses in the State; 
in 1875, 75,966; and estimated in 1878, 106,350 horses. It 
will thus be seen that our stock-raising industries are flourish- 
ing and making a fair progress each year, while in particular 
sheep and cattle-raising, especially the former, are destined to 



17 

increase very considerably during the next ten years, keeping" 
in view the peculiar advantages which Oregon's vacant lands 
now offer for these industries. As the above returns of the 
increase of stock are compiled from the tax returns made an- 
nually to the State officials, it. will be at once seen that the 
figures here given are much below the actual number of stock 
in the State, for the reason that the State and county taxes are 
assessed to individuals on such returns given by themselves, 

j 
MANUFACTURES, SHIPPING, WATER POWER. 

While possessing unlimited water power, the raw material 
and all the elements for a manufacturing State, yet we are 
forced to admit that Oregon's progress in manufactures has 
been slow, indeed. Beyond a very large number of flour and 
saw mills, four woolen mills, a number of furniture and sash 
and door factories, eight or ten foundries and machine shops, 
onearon smelting works, one oil works, one flax and one paper 
mill, a shoe factory, and a few other lesser factories, we have 
no great manufacturing enterprises, except shipbuilding at 
Coos Bay, where forty-three vessels, including two large 
ships, the latter of the value of $80,000 each, have been built. 
At Portland the majority of the river steamers (there are 
seventy-two in number) have been built, and a United States 
steamer; the cutter " Tom Corwin," was also built at Port- 
land in 1S77. The flour manufactured in the State is of the 
finest quality, and finds a good increasing market at San Fran- 
cisco, British Columbia, and Great Britain, the exports of flour 
having increased annually since 1872. The several coal mines 
on the coast of Oregon export annually about 55,000 tone ' 
coal to San Francisco, while the lumber exports from Cogs 
Bay alone are 24,900,000 feet of lumber annually. The to- 
tal number of feet of lumber produced for the year 1S75, ac- 
cording to the State census returns, was 98,285,684 feet. 

There is owned at Portland five ocean steamers of the value 
2 



18 

of $700,000; nine sailing vessels, of the value of $210,000, in- 
cluding the "Belle of Oregon.'' 

The water power of Oregon City alone exceeds one million 
horse-power — that adjacent to Puget Sound, Columbia, Wil- 
lamette, Umpqua, and other rivers and tributaries, is so 
great and so well distributed as to furnish facilities for many 
thousands of manufactories at little cost. Nearly all the man- 
ufactories, saw and other mills, are worked by water power. 
The water power of Oregon alone, without estimating Wash- 
ington Territory, is fully equal to that of all the Western 
States of America. 

RAILROADS BUILT AND IN PROGRESS. 

A system or network of railroads located in an agricultural 
country will certainly bring future prosperity. The people of 
Oregon, and especially the farming community, whose farms 
have increased so much in value by the present railroads, 
sliould feel much indebted to the pioneer railroad men — those 
Germans who now control and have invested many millions 
of dollars in the Oregon and California and Oregon Central 
railroads. These two enterprises in 1870 opened up and 
developed W T estern Oregon, making, what was considered 
prior thereto a wilderness, one of the most favored valleys in 
the United States. The systematic manner in which the gen- 
tlemen now in charge of these railroads attend to the wants of 
the people, and decline to interfere with the politics of the 
State, charging, as they do, moderate freights, is very com- 
mendable, and entitle them to the respect of the people. 
Since 187 1, no new railroad has been constructed in Oregon, 
except the Dayton and Grande Ronde narrow-gauge road, 
which has opened up to Portland a fine farming country, and 
which road is now being built to Dallas, in Polk county, a 
distance of 36 miles. The intention of the owners of the 
West Side railroad is to continue that road to Corvallis from 
St. Joseph this year, a distance of 55 miles, while on the East 



19 

side of the Willamette valley, a new road is projected on the 
narrow-gauge system to extend from Springfield, in Lane 
county, along the foothills of the Cascades on to Salem, a 
distance of 75 miles, and be eventually extended to Port- 
land, opening up a country which has suffered hitherto 
for want of transportation facilities. These railroads will 
in no way compete for freight, because wide apart from 
each other, while the enhanced value of land and the in- 
creased products to be derived from the various farms 
located in the districts through which these roads pass, will 
swell our annual exports and commerce with foreign countries, 
and increase our population. A ten-mile railroad is also ex- 
pected from Corvallis to Philomath this year, which will be- 
come a feeder to the Oregon Central (broad-gauge) Railroad 
when constructed to Corvallis. A railroad, narrow-gauge, is 
also proposed from Umatilla to Grand Ronde valley, in Union 
county, 120 miles, which is much needed to open up one of 
the finest agricultu.al sections of the State. Various other 
narrow-gauge railroads are proposed, but have not demon- 
strated their plans to the public. One instance of the benefits 
conferred on Douglas county by the Oregon and California 
Railroad to Roseburg is the fact that in 1S69 only 105,000 
bushels of wheat and oats were raised in that county, whereas 
in 1877 the quantity raised therein was 673,676 bushels. But 
beyond all these local enterprises the greatest need to Oregon 
is direct railroad connection with the Atlantic States, the pros- 
pects of which in the near future do not yet seem so favorable 
as we should like. The Northern Paclnc has two termini — 
one at Kalama, Columbia river, (to be transferred to Port- 
land), from which trains run daily to Puget Sound, and an- 
other at Tacoma, with a branch line of 30 miles to Puyallup 
and Wilkeson, in all 130 miles open. 

The Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue river valleys of 
Oregon are traversed by the Oregon & California and Oregon 
Central railways, now open for 250 miles, which will event- 



20 

ually connect with the Central Pacific at Winnemucca, and 
California railroad on the south, and the Northern Pacific 
on the north, thus causing continual daily intercourse and 
trade all along the line from British Columbia via Portland 
to San Francisco and the Eastern States, and, also, as far 
south as Mexico. 

FINANCIAL PROGRESS IN OREGON. 

In 1868 there were three banks in Portland, with a work- 
ing capital of one million and a half dollars, namely, Ladd & 
Tilton, First National Bank and Bank of British Columbia. 
At that time there was no loan organization or building soci- 
ety for the purpose ©f assisting persons to make improvements 
on farms, and there were little outside funds in the hands of 
private individuals for that purpose. Rates of interest were 
12 per cent, with 5 per cent, commission added, and money 
was so scarce on such loans that needed inprovements both in 
the city and country w T ere not proceeded with. The merchan- 
dise exports in that year not having exceeded $1,000,000, it 
will be seen that the capital of $ 1 ,500,000 possessed by the 
commercial banks was then more than sufficient for the com- 
merce of the State. Gradually the money market improved, 
and foreign capital began to seek investment in Oregon, for in 
1873, a want much felt in this State was then supplied in the 
formation by a number of capitalists at Dundee, Scotland, of 
the Oregon and Washington Trust Investment Company, 
with a capital of $250,000, for the purpose exclusively of 
making mortgage loans over farms and city property, re-pay- 
able on long time, from three to five years, which capital was 
within one year all invested, and the next year was increased 
to $500,000; the succeeding year, 1876, to $750,000; and in 
1877, to $1,000,000. There had been no savings bank in the 
State until the end of 1876, when another financial institution, 
the Oregon and Washington Mortgage Savings Bank, was 
promoted by capitalists residing in Portland and Scotland, 



21 

jointly owned, with a capital of $300,000, whose operations 
are chiefly confined to the State of Oregon exclusively. All 
these four banking institutions — Ladd & Tilton, First National 
Bank, Bank of British Columbia, and Oregon and Washing- 
ton Mortgage Savings Bank — have each erected substan- 
tial buildings in Portland, where they carry on their business. 
The working capital of the three commercial banks of this 
State — First National, Ladd & Tilton, and Bank of British 
Columbia — has been increased from $1,500,000 to $4,500,000. 
In 187S another bank — The Bank of British North America — 
opened a branch of its business at Portland. The State and 
city do now possess all the banking and money loaning capi- 
tal necessary to carry on business for some years to come, 
because outside of the capital owned and employed by these 
various banks and financial institutions there are large sums of 
money loaned out by private capitalists seeking investment, 
which have been and are being invested in various productive 
enterprises in the State, while rates of interest on loans and 
discounts are reduced considerably, and money can now be 
obtained on good security whenever required. 

MINING ENTERPRISES. 

We can scarcely record any advance in mining since 186S 
until the last few years. Prior to 1868 large shipments of 
gold and silver were macle from Oregon, the gold product 
alone of the State between the years 1851 and 1866 amounted 
to $22,000,000. From that year until 1874 the product fell 
off, and has not since averaged $1,500,000 per year. During 
the last three years there have been some fifteen mining com- 
panies started in the State, and the prosj:>ects are that great 
developments will take j>lace in mining during the next ten 
years. Silver and lead exist in abundance; gold is worked in 
Southern and Eastern Oregon. Jackson county alone ex- 
tracted in sixteen years $10,000,000; Grant county $10,000,- 
000. Iron ore and iron works exist in Northern Oregon, sup- 



22 

ply the local foundries and San Francisco with pig iron, which 
is compact in grain, superior to the best Scotch pig. Silver 
and lead have not yet been worked to any great extent. 

PUBLIC WORKS AND IMPROVEMENTS. 

Since 1S6S the locks at Oregon City, the State Capitol at 
Salem, the University of Oregon at Eugene, the Penitentiary 
at Salem, the U. S. Postoffice, Portland, the County Court 
Houses at Albany, Salem and Portland, and various lesser 
public buildings have been erected, at an aggregate cost of 
$2,050,000, while the United States have spent in the improve- 
ments of our rivers and in the locks now building at the Cas- 
cades close on to $1,000,000 for the last ten years. 

The writer intended to describe, in detail, various other im- 
provements in this State, and give other statistics showing the 
progress of Oregon since 1868, but as this article is already 
too lengthy for publication, he has been compelled to delay 
such statistics for another season. Enough, however, has been 
written to show that the State of Oregon is making sure and 
steady progress, and that the next ten years will place her in 
foremost rank as one of the most prosperous States in the 
Union. 



Progpess of Portland. 

On ist January, 1S68, the population of Portland was 6,717 
persons; increased ten years thereafter to nearly 20,000 inhabi- 
tants. The various commercial and statistical facts herein be- 
fore enumerated, show, in a great measure, the causes which 
have produced this increase, and therefore the author will 
save his readers a repetition of same. In 186S, the total as- 
sessed property within the city limits was $5,060,980. In 
1872 this was increased to $12,291,350 — a steady increase, 
notwithstanding the fact of the stoppage of the Northern Pa- 
cific, Oregon & Cal. and Oregon Central railroads, and the 
commercial depression which continued in the United States 
from 1S73 to 1S77. The assessed value of real estate in the 
city was $2,375,065 in 1S6S; increased to $7,141,250111 1878 — 
showing an increase of 315 per cent, in ten years. Of course 
it must be remembered that these official assessed values are 
made for taxes only, and consequently, as is the custom in 
Oregon, amount simply to 40 per cent, of the true value of 
real estate in the city, which, therefore, (excluding churches 
and schools untaxed) is really $18,000,000. The total 
real value (not assessed value) of all improvements made 
upon real estate in the city up to 1868 was $2,036,000, 
and since then there has been expended, during the last 
ten years, $6,236,733 on new buildings and other erec- 
tions in this city (exclusive of railroads and steamers). The 
Portland gas and water works have, in addition, since 
1868 been rebuilt and increased in size, at a united cost 
of $1,000,000. Four very fine bank buildings have also been 
built, costing over $100,000; besides five handsome churches 
of the value of $145,000. A county court house, United 



24 

States building and postoffice, a theatre, two markets and four 
public school buildings have since also been erected, all valued 
at $832,000. The disbursements necessary to sustain the city's 
public schools amounts to $40,000 annually. The Portland 
street railway has also been built since 1868. Portland has now, 
in all, tw r enty schools; sixteen churches; .thirty-five Lodges or 
secret organizations; a volunteer fire department, including six 
separate buildings owned by the fire brigade, and which has 
six engines, admitted by the 'insurance companies to be, un- 
questionably, the finest on the Pacific coast; fifteen newspaper 
publications; three public n nd private hospitals, together with 
a public library and gymnasium. To show the extent of 
. stereet improvements made yearly we may state that although 
:it is_ well known that Portland's streets are nicely graded and 
regularly laid out, macadamized, planked or paved with 
Nicholson pavement, yet in 1878 alone, nine miles of addi- 
tional new sidewalks were constructed in that year, and streets 
abutting on 200 blocks were macadamized. Several private 
residences have been built, costing from $20,000 to $30,000 
each, while the new wharves built along the city's river front 
since 1868 average one and one-quarter miles in extent. The 
stone and brick business edifices along First and Front streets, 
for a mile in length, are substantially built and as handsome in 
architectural appearance as those in San Francisco, while the 
wholesale trade of three houses alone exceeds $9,000,000. The 
only bonded indebtedness which the city of Portland, with 
20,000 inhabitants, possesses, is $76,500 — a striking contrast 
with Canadian and Eastern cities of the same population. 
Portland being the only commercial distributing point north of 
San Francisco, it is the seat of supplies for Western and 
Eastern Oregon, Western and Eastern Washington Territory 
and Idaho, — hence why we have eight ocean steamers, three 
railroads, sixty river steamers and an average of one hundred 
foreign vessels annuallv centering: at Portland — the vear's ex- 
ports from that city amounting, up to 1st August, 1S7S, to 



25 

$13,983,650. The value of real estate sales made in the city 
was $596,951 in 1869; in 1878 it was $1,483,976. 

POSITION OF PORTLAND. 

Located, as this city is, 10 miles above the junction of the 
Columbia and Willamette rivers, a glance at the map will 
show its desirable position as the commercial metropolis of 
the North Pacific Coast. If Portland's rivals, as it is often 
claimed, possess superior advantages over that city, why is it 
that neither capitalists nor laborers have sufficient confidence 
to locate in and build up such rival towns. And still Portland 
continues to progress and increase from a place of 2,917 inhabi- 
tants in 1S61 to 20,000 inhabitants in 1878, and draws to it 
nearly all the shipping trade and commerce north of San 
Francisco ? The reason is obvious. Because it is located in 
the centre of this North Pacific Coast and in the only posi- 
tion where it is possible to build a large city sufficient to 
supply the great and increasing countries north, south, east 
and west of it, and at the same time export abroad the entire 
agricultural produce of such countries. Let us now verify 
this statement. South of it lies the Willamette river, naviga- 
ble for 135 miles from Portland, with three separate railroads 
(which before the end of this year will unitedly be nearly 400 

ties long) all bringing north to Portland the entire trade of 
Western Oregon, which practically consists of the Willam- 
ette, Umpqua and Rogue river (wheat-producing) valleys, 
lying 10 to 250 miles south of Portland, containing two-thirds of 
the entire population of Oregon. These valleys are, by nature, 
located between two immense ranges of mountains. There are 
no safe deep water harbors along the seaboard coast of Oregon 
so that even should these hisrh mountains be crossed bv rail- 
roads, the export trade and commerce of Western Oregon 
must all pass through Portland via the Columbia river be- 
fore reaching the sea. North of Portland lie three non-agri- 
cultural, non-producing or timbered, but increasing populous 



26 

countries, (Western Washington, British Columbia and 
Alaska) all which consequently must draw their produce and 
supplies from the nearest point, which is these wheat-grow- 
ing, agricultural regions south of Portland. That they will do 
so, in future, via Portland and the Northern Pacific railroad 
through Puget Sound is evidenced by the fact that as far back 
as 1 87 1, Oregon's exports, by sea, to British Columbia alone, 
amounted to $191,901. East of Portland lies a long stretch 
of agricultural and pastoral producing country on both sides 
of the Columbia river (Eastern Oregon and Eastern Wash- 
ington) 400 miles long by an average of 200 miles broad, the 
produce of which countries finds but one outlet to the sea, and 
that is down the Columbia river — Portland's fleet of river 
steamers emptying (as they do now) this annually increasing 
produce into the large foreign vessels and ocean steamers 
always waiting at Portland to receive the same and transport 
it to Europe, San Francisco, China, British Columbia, Alaska 
and the Sandwich Islands. The U. S. locks, now building at 
the Cascades, will be open in three years, which, together with 
the various narrow-gauge railroads built and projected from 
Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory to and 
as feeders of the Columbia river, (afterwards extended 
to Portland) will give speedy and much cheaper trans- 
portation to this city than at present. Portland being thus 
practically a seaport and located (like Chicago) at the 
head of ship navigation, beyond which place no ocean 
steamer or deep sea vessel can proceed further inland, 
it will at once be seen that, commercially speaking, she pos- 
sesses the key not only to Western Oregon, but to Eastern 
Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory, which contain a 
joint area of 100,000 square miles of land. Besides these nat- 
ural advantages, the immense sums already invested in Port- 
land; her railroads, steamers, large population, and the in- 
creasing foreign export and import trade which her merchants 
now control, are such that any railroad corporation which for 



27 

its own aggrandizement, should, during the next twenty years? 
attempt to build up a rival city elsewhere and pass Portland 
by, would find it had undertaken a difficult and practically 
impossible task — more especially when we consider this fact'} 
that if the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. did persist in going 
to Puget Sound alone, purposely to avoid and carrv away the 
trade from Portland, yet that city would still have the choice 
of two other railroad routes to the Atlantic States and Eastern 
Oregon via either The Dalles and Salt Lake, or the Wil- 
lamette valley and Winnemucca roads, connecting her to the? 
Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad, respectively* 
Besides these railroads, the Upper Columbia river will always 
be open to public competition, so that Portland will eventually 
have what any town on Puget Sound cannot ever possess — ■ 
a tivo-fold connection with Eastern Oregon and Washing- 
ton, — first, by the free navigation of the Upper Columbia 
river, and second, by a railroad from Portland, east of the 
Cascades via The Dalles. 

Using the words of one of the great owners of the present 
Pacific Railroads : "So long, therefore, as $500,000 expended 
on the improvements of the Lower Willamette and Lower 
Columbia rivers, gives to Portland 21 feet of water for deep 
sea vessels, so long may her citizens rest easy, and feel sat- 
isfied that she will continue in the future to be, as she is now, 
the commercial metropolis of the North Pacific Coast." 



Advantages of Oregon and Washington in 1879. 



The State of Oregon and Territory of Washington, situa- 
ted on the North Pacific Coast, between latitude 42 and 49 
North, with only a population of 200,000 persons, have a 
climate mild and healthful; a joint area of 106,000,000 of acres, 
of which 83,000,000 are peculiarly adapted to agriculture, and 



28 



50,000,000 to pasture, the remainder being mountain land, 
valuable for its immense forests of timber; a soil exceedingly 
fertile, susceptible of diversified agriculture, with many rich 
valleys; immense tracts of pasture lands, suited pre-eminently 
for sheep farming, stock raising, wheat cultivation, fruit rais- 
ing and dairying; extensive deposits of gold, iron, silver and 
lead; coal in abundance, of superior quality, yearly exported; 
inexhaustible forests and immense exports of timber; inland 
navigable waters; with shore lilies; one of 1,800 miles and 
others 300 to 800 miles, far into adjacent States and Brit- 
ish Columbia, navigable all the year round ; shipping ports, 
valuable salmon and other fisheries practically inexhaustible; 
a railway system soon to connect with two trans-continental 
railways — the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific, having 
two termini on its coasts ; a commerce increasing yearly, with 
a seaboard practically 1,000 miles nearer Japan and China 
from Liverpool than any other American port; churches, 
schools and colleges in abundance; market facilities at sea- 
port, river and railway towns, (wheat being always sold at 
Portland at Chicago prices;) water power unlimited, equally 
distributed, already used for manufactories; for ship-building 
admirably adapted, where ships can be built 20 per cent, 
cheaper here than elsewhere, with iron, coal, rosin, wood &c. 
at hand; lands improved and unimproved, close to towns, 
railways and navigable rivers. These unusual inducements 
for labor and capital must soon attract an increasing immigra- 
tion to our shores. 

THE CLIMATE OF WESTERN OREGON AND WASH- 
INGTON 

Is mild — neither extremely hot in summer nor cold in winter, 
indeed it is very similar to the south of England, with much 
longer, more enjoyable, somewhat warmer and drier sum- 
mers, a milder and earlier spring, a winter with less frost and 
less snow (both of which for a week or ten days in January or 



29 

February constitute the only approach to actual winter.) The 
rainfall for four months is the only objection to the climate, 
during which, however, taking the average of ten years, one 
in every two days is fair. The winter's rains never attain the 
force of a great storm — rather a constant drizzle. Ice is 
rarely so thick as to produce skating. Pleasant days in the 
year average 237. Earthquakes, high winds or hurricanes 
are unknown. Thunder storms and lightning are very rare 
occurring not more than once a year. The annual rainfall 
averages 40 inches. The summers are not always destitute 
of rain, nor parched dry, to the injury of crops. Occasionally 
showers fall in that season, furnishing vegetation with suffi- 
cient moisture, but never destroying garnered crops. Sum- 
mer showers are scarce and light, hence farmers have no anx- 
iety as to their crops being destroyed by droughts, storms, 
winds, hails, floods, so common and disastrous in many coun- 
tries. The heavy harvest rains of the Western and the At- 
lantic vStates and England, which often so seriously damage 
crops, are here unknown. Dr. Watkins, of Portland, a med^ 
ical practitioner of twenty years' standing in Western Ore-* 
gon, says : " The equable temperature, summer and winter, 
" the absence of high cold winds and sudden atmospheric 
" changes, render people less subject to bronchial, rheumatic 
u and inflammatory complaints than they are in countries 
" where the thermometer swings entirely round the circle* 
" For twenty years (except scarlet fever and diphtheria) there 
" has been no general epidemic of at all fatal character in Or- 
" egon. The general salubrity of the climate and healthful- 
" ness of the people cannot be questioned." 

Professor Merrick, sent by the U. S. Government to report 
on the climate and soil, says to the Department: " All re- 
" ports, both common and scientific, seem to coincide in the 
"statement that the North Pacific coast presents the most de- 
" sirable conditions of climatic influences upon earth." And 
again he says: " The most active outdoor labors may be per- 



30 

" formed at all seasons of the year and at all hours of the day." 
One peculiarity, however hot it may be during the day in 
summer, the nights are always cool, necessitating a pair of 
blankets for a comfortable sleep — the heat of which is not op- 
jDressive as in the Atlantic States and Canada, as a cool breeze 
is always then blowing from the ocean. The summer proper 
lasts for five months, three of which are almost entirely free 
from rain. In winter (the rainy season,) the sea coast valleys 
are the wettest parts; next, the middle and north parts of the 
Willamette valley — called for its luxuriance of crops and rich 
soil, "the Garden of Oregon," where, a writer says: "In 
iC winter there are more rains, more clouds, and more fogs 
" than farther south of that valley, and much more than they 
" have in Umpqua and Rogue River valleys (Southern Ore- 
" gon,) while in Middle and Eastern Oregon they have com- 
" paratively none of these winter discomforts." 

CLIMATE OF EASTERN OREGON AND WASH- 
INGTON. 

The climate is totally different from and more varied than 
in Western Oregon. Divided from the Western division by 
the Cascade range, they have a drier atmosphere. Winters 
are colder, and unlike Western Oregon, clear and usually dry, 
lasting only in December and January, when several inches 
of snow falls and remains from three to six weeks — some sea- 
sons only two or three days. Spring begins the end of Feb- 
ruary with warm, pleasant weather, and light rains, lasting 
till end of May, but always sufficient to insure abundant crops. 
Summers are hot, very dry and sultry. Autumn is delightful. 
These five months, rain seldom falls. October and November 
are very enjoyable months — bright, warm days with slight 
frost at night, thermometer ranging from 55 to 70 degrees. 
A singular feature exists in early winter, namely, " Chinook 
winds," from the southwest — warm breezes which in two 
hours remove every vestige of. snow on the ground. "Such 



31 

n breeze is now blowing," writes Mr. Ritz, at Walla Walla 
."and at this writing, November 2d, at 6 a. m., the thermom- 
eter stands at 73 degrees." It indicates 90 degrees as highest 
summer temperature at noon. Dr. Watkins says, " the air is 
" dry, the altitude high, and the country is popularly supposed 
*' to be beneficial to consumptives. Army reports appear to 
" sanction this belief." 

East of the Cascades the thermometer has raised occasion- 
ally to 100 degrees in the sheltered valleys in summer, and has 
rarely gone down to 15 degrees below zero in winter. These 
were extreme cases, however, for generally speaking the 
winters are always 25 degrees milder and two and a half 
months shorter in duration than in any portion of the West- 
ern States of America. Once acclimated in Eastern Oregon, 
you may engage in active exercise in the sun, with the mer- 
cury even as high as 100 degrees, without any of that disa- 
greeableness which you feel, when inactive, on the At- 
lantic coast, at 75 or So degrees. The grasses dry up, but 
they do not lose their nutritiousness, as is the case in other 
localities; rather they become stronger, and the sight may be 
beheld of horses and cattle growing fat on this natural hay, 
which retains its qualities until they are destroyed by the 
rains of winter. 

CEREALS AND OTHER PRODUCTIONS. 

The Columbia river is the division between Washington 
and Oregon; still the climate of both is very similar, and the 
soil very nearly* alike, unsurpassed in fertility and yield. All 
the cereals succeed. Some valleys are peculiarly adapted to 
wheat, barley, oats and rye, which yield abundantly. Cereals 
can attain a size and abundance truly wonderful, — barley 40 to 
75 bushels ; oats, 40 to 60 bushels — particularly heavy ; wheat, 
20 to 50 bushels; rye, 30; peas and beans yield 30; potatoes, 
300 or more bushels per acre, of immense size (600 have 
been produced); onions yield 1,000 bushels, and turnips Soo 



32 

bushels per acre; carrots yield 500 bushels; hay averages 2 to 
3 tons per acre; cabbages, 10,000 to 12,000 per acre; hops 
yield abundantly. The mild climate and humid atmosphere 
of winter cause all trees to grow with more rapidity than on 
the Atlantic coast, and to bear much earlier. Flowers spring 
up in every spot; foliaceous trees are clothed in spring garb 
early in April. 

WESTERN AND SOUTHERN OREGON. 

Western Oregon is bounded by the Columbia river on the 
north, California on the south, the Cascade range of moun- 
tains and Eastern Oregon on the east, and the Pacific ocean on 
the west. It is 300 miles long, and has an average width of 
no miles, — contains upwards of twenty millions of acres, all 
valuable for agriculture, grazing or timber. This being the 
first settled and richest part of Oregon in soil, it contains the 
great preponderance of the population. Western and South- 
ern Oregon are much diversified — of great beauty — agreeable 
climate — undulating, and in some places hilly, chiefly rolling 
and level prairies, but well wooded all along the streams, 
rivers and lakes, which are abundant. The principal Western 
valleys are : 

(1) The Willa?nette Valley. — This is considered the finest 
and richest valley on the Pacific coast; it is 155 miles long by 
40 to 50 miles broad — principally prairie. Wheat and other 
cereals here gradually mature and ripen to the greatest per- 
fection, producing, with good cultivation, the largest quantity 
to the acre of any valley in the United States. This is con- 
clusively proven from the Annual Report of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture to Congress, a bureau whose func- 
tions are to report disinterestedly every year the various agri- 
cultural products of each State. These reports bear that Ore- 
gon stands highest both in money value and yield per acre over 
every other American State. Nothing could be more conclu- 
sive as to the soil and suitability of climate. The mean tern- 



33 

perature is 52 degrees in spring, 67 degrees in summer, 53 de- 
grees in autumn, and 39 degrees in winter. This valley con- 
tains 6,000,000 of acres ar.d there are only 800,000 acress yet 
cultivated; population 75,000; the Government land is nearly 
all taken up. It is pre-emminently an agricultural region, and 
free from drouths, high winds, and severe hailstorms. It is 
watered by the Willamette river and forty to forty-five tribu- 
taries; landing stages exist on each side of its banks for 
steamers, and three railroads run through it on each side. 
There are rivers, creeks and streams flowing everywhere, 
teeming with salmon trout. It is calculated this valley, if well 
cultivated, as in Great Britain, would yield 60,000,000 bushel* 
of wheat annually, and support more than one million persons. 
The Hon. W. H. Seward, the late U. S. Secretary of State, 
on beholding this valley in 1869, prophesied that it would be 
" the future granary of the Pacific Coast" One feature, 
giving confidence to the amateur farmer, whose inexperience' 
in Europe would command no employment, is, that he reaps 
where he sows. No such thing as the failure of the wheat 
crop in Western Oregon has oc.cured during a continuous 
period of at least thirty years. Improved farms sell from $20 
to $40 per acre in this valley, and close to Salem and Albany 
at $60 to $70 per acre. 

(2) The Umpqua valley is further south, not so flat, but 
undulating and hilly. It is a first-class sheep valley, is 75 
miles long by 40 broad. Here are the favorite and best wool- 
bearing sheep, reared, generally, without housing or Winter 
feed; is watered by the Umpqua river and its branches — a 
distance of 140 miles to the sea — prolific in salmon, &c. Soil 
is very fertile; population 12,000. Farms here sell from $12 
to $15 per acre, and there are about 600,000 bushels of grain 
raised in that valley. 

(3) The Rogue river valley is still further south; hilly, and 
often quite mountainous — adjoins the Umpqua — in size a lit- 
tle less; a delightful climate all the year round, and specially 



• 



34 

recommended for consumptives; very fertile soil of a rich 
alluvial character; is watered by a river, bearing its name, for 
125 miles, flowing westerly to the sea. It is the finest part of 
Oregon to live in for climate, the autumn is delightful. Coal, 
gold and other minerals exist, and are worked profitably. It 
is good for sheep-farming, agriculture, or fruits — especially 
grapes, Indian corn, and peaches, which don't do so well in the 
Willamette; population 6,000. Its only drawbacks are the 
meagre population, great distance (250 miles) from Portland, 
and as yet no railroads open. There are excellent improved 
farms here, and lands are very cheap in price. 

(4) The Nchalem valley is in Northwestern Oregon, close 
to the Columbia river and the sea — is 40 miles long by 30 
broad. It contains the best and largest body of Government 
land not yet taken up in Western Oregon, but nearly all wild 
land as yet, and mostly timber and brush. 

DAIRYING IN WESTERN OREGON. 

The fact that grasses grow early in spring . and in bottom 
lands to late in autumn, and that the country is exceedingly 
well watered, marks this coast as a great dairy country. 
Cheese and butter farms exist on the bottom lands of the 
Columbia and Willamette rivers and Coast and Cascade 
ranges. Tillamook, on the coast, is another favorite dairy 
spot, yet cheese is imported into Oregon. The reason as- 
signed is the inexperience and incompetency of makers of 
cheese and butter, who turn out an inferior article. The best 
butter averages 34 cents per pound the year round, greatly in 
demand, because inferior butter is more common, owing to 
want of experience of butter making, and California butter is 
imported by every steamer. All along the coast of Oregon 
and Columbia river as far up as the Cascades a growth of 
white shamrock clover springs up wherever the timber is 
hewn down or burnt off, and this is the same clover which 
makes the Irish butter so much prized in England. 



35 

FRUIT-GROWING AND POULTRY. 

The quantity of fruit raised both in Western and Eastern 
Washington and Western and Eastern Oregon is something 
unprecedented for the population. The trees are in full bear- 
ing in four years, and with little care and cultivation yield 
heavy crops of the finest flavor. The soil and sheltered val- 
leys prevent frost (which, however, is rare in spring) touch- 
ins: the buds. The limbs of the fruit trees are bent to the 
ground with the weight and size of the fruit. Plums are 
magnificent in size and flavor, are exported, and easily raised. 
Pears give fruit the second year. Pear trees and apples are 
really marvelous for size, prolific, and along with the prune, 
jDlum, pear and cherry, the crop never fails. Strawberries, 
raspberries and blackberries grow everywhere in abundance; 
grapes only in the sheltered places — native and foreign— which 
are exempt from disease, and ripen beginning of September. 
The apple-worm and the curculio are, as yet, unknown. 
Pear-blight is never seen. The prunes are equal to any in 
Germany, and there is always a demand for them. Canned 
and dried fruit is a large and increasing industry. Fruit trees 
bear earlier than in other countries, and their products are 
superior, large and juicy. 

Poultry-raising is a most profitable industry; chickens sell 
from $2.50 to $3 per dozen, and always in demand. Owing 
to the quantity of game and wild ducks, tame ducks are not so 
much sought after. Eggs always command high prices, 
averaging 35 cents per dozen the year round. 

SHEEP-FARMING AND STOCK-RAISING. 

Until i860 Oregon had scarcely commenced sheep-farming 
as a separate industry. From i860 to 187S it developed to 
nearly two million of sheep, averaging in weight of fleece 
4 tbs., generally of the Merino class, yielding 6,000,000 
ibs. of wool. Oregon wool is famed in the American mar- 
kets. So free is it from burs, dirt and rust that, when un- 
washed^ it only looses 8 per cent, in cleaning, compared with 



-cashed wbol oi otiici States. All V\ dsteni Oi'egott is 
adapted. tor sheep; also the Klamath Lakes' Valleys and 
Southern Oregon. These, along with the vast plains of 
©astern Washington and Eastern Oregon, from British Co- 
lombia On the north to Nevada and California on tine south, 
actually contain milliens of unoccupied acres, pre-eminently 
suited for feeding thousands of flocks, possessing grass, water 
and climate, and having better facilities for wool growing 
than New Zealand, and carried on more profitably than in that 
colony. In Canterbury, New Zealand, land is $10 per acre 
(Government price), and though squatters there are wealthy, 
very few can ever buy their sheep runs. All its pastoral lands 
have been taken up, and to get a "run" there, a would-be sheep 
framer must purchase the good will (lease) of an existing "sheep- 
run" — say for 30,000 sheep, 60,000 acres. It will be found that 
only a capitalist with $100,000 can successfully engage 
in wool growing in New Zealand. Not so in Southern or 
Eastern Oregon or Washington; a would-be sheep farmer 
there on a large scale could buy his sheep at public market or 
elsewhere, price always under $2 each, and squat down 
with them on Government land — his own selection — pays 
neither good-will nor annual rent for his "sheep-run," and 
sits rent free, tending and increasing his flocks, until he him- 
self or some one else purchases the land his sheep occupy, 
from the United States Government at $1 25, or if on rail- 
road land, $2 50 an acre, whereas in Canterbury, New Zea- 
land, Government land is $10 an acre. Whatever improve- 
ments he makes (erections, houses, &c.) he can limit to 160 
acres, which are his own in perpetuity after five years occu- 
pation, gratis, as a gift from the United States Government. 

New South Wales, with an area of but little more than 
Eastern Oregon alone, is able to produce and receives an- 
nually thirty millions of dollars from England for her wool 
exports derived from thirty millions of sheep. 

Long-wooled bands of sheep placed upon the grasses of 
Eastern Oregon change their character of wool, and this is 
apparent after two or three years on the same animal here, 
the change being greater strength and glossier appearance 
and characteristics of the fibre. 

The grasses are of a very nutritious quality, which, quoting 
the words of Hon. J. Ross Browne's official report to the 
United States Government, "cannot be excelled for grazing 
purposes" Eastern Oregon and Washington's superiority 
over New Zealand is borne out more forcibly by two eminent 
authorities, once experienced flockmasters in New Zealand 



ted Australia, uhd now in Ofegoiii They sav "the^e Is ricj 
climate to surpass Eastern Oregon for sheep-farming and 
stock-raising, and that many more young men from New 
Zealand and Australia^ of experience and capital), will follow 
their example." 

Sheep diseases are uncommon — fencing unnecessary. The 
United States, with a customs' duty averaging 35 to 40 per 
cent., imports one-third of all the wool consumed throughout 
the United States ; and the Woolen Mills of Oregon and 
California use large quantities. It will be seen that no indus- 
try promises so profitable results, nor can be commenced with 
so little capital as sheep-farming in Eastern Oregon and 
Eastern Washington. Stock-raising is one of the best paying- 
enterprises. The animals generally graze and keep in good 
condition on the extensive meadows of bunch grass all the 
year round, except occasionally for a few days in winter, for 
which thrifty stock-breeders cut hay and house their cattle in 
case a storm should come, which it does once in every four or 
five years. 

TIMBER AND FORESTS. 

It is impossible to convey to the reader an idea of the vast 
valuable forests of fir, pine and cedar, both in Oregon and 
Washington. Trees 200 and 250 feet high, 6 feet in diameter, 
are never out of view; 8 and 10 feet in diameter and 300 feet 
high are not uncommon, generally two-thirds free of limbs. 
Fifty and sixty good timber trees grow on an acre as a rule, 
and yield seldom less that 300,000 feet ; and instances are on 
record of one million of feet from an acre. No acre is worked 
for profit which cannot yield 3po,ooo feet at least, and even 
this yield is rare. Logs are seldom hauled half a mile to a 
river. The manufacture and shipment of timber is the lead- 
ing industry in Western Washington, employing large num- 
bers of workmen and an immense number of large saw-mills, 
going by steam and water power, and a large fleet of ships 
and some small steamers exporting the timber to San Fran- 
cisco, East Indies, Europe, Australia, Egypt, South America, 
Japan and China. Elk, deer, swan, geese, ducks, partridges, 
quails, sage hens, woodcock and snipe are exceedingly prolific 
everywhere. Bears are hunted for sport, in the interior of 
the mountains. The variety, extent and excellence of the 
game in Washington and Oregon is only found by actually 
visiting these countries. The timber shipped from one dis- 
trict in Western Washington (Puget Sound) in 1S76 by 
vessels, without reckoning home consumption, equalled 40,000 
railway car loads, or 2,000 railway trains of 20 cars each, and 



38 

In 1S7S amounted to 250,000,000 feet. The foreign demand 
increases every year. Timbered lands well situated for log- 
ging' purposes sell at S to 12 dollars per acre ; three miles 
from a river timber lands can be had at $2 to $3 an acre. 

INLAND NAVIGATION. 

The Columbia, Willamette and other rivers are usually 
navigable all the year round, thus differing from many rivers 
on the Eastern coast. The Columbia is navigable for six 
hundred miles, the Willamette for one hundred and fifty 
miles. 

COAL 

Exists all over this coast of the best quality. Mines are open 
at Nanaimo, Bellingham, Puyallup and Seattle — all on Puget 
Sound — and at Coos Bay in Oregon. They together export 
about 200,000 tons annually to *San Francisco and other 
towns. Seattle alone exported 110,000 tons in 1878. 

TOWNS. 

(1.) In Oregon are Astoria, St. Helens, Dalles City and 
Umatilla — all upon the Columbia river ; Portland, Oswego, 
Oregon City, Albany (3,000 inhabitants, an important wheat 
centre in the Willamette Valley), Salem, Corvallis and 
Eugene City on the Willamette river. Roseburg, Ellens- 
burg, Oakland and Jacksonville are in Southern Oregon. 
Steamers or railways (often both) pass every one of them 
except Jacksonville. Springfield, Halsey, Brownsville, Scio, 
Lebanon, Silverton and Stayton are inland towns on east side 
of Willamette valley, soon to be connected by railway with 
Portland. Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Lafayette, McMinnville, 
Sheridan, Dayton, Amity and Dallas are inland railroad 
towns on the west side of the Willamette valley. Salem, in 
Western Oregon, is the State capital — 3,000 inhabitants — said 
to be the prettiest town in the State. Portland is the com- 
mercial capital ; population 20,000. It is the next seaport 
town to San Francisco on the Pacific Coast, and is the centre 
of commerce for the whole North Pacific west of the Rockv 
Mountains, a detailed description of which will be found in the 
foregoing article on the "Progress of Oregon from 186S to 
187S." In Eastern Oregon there are the inland towns of 
Union, La Grande, Baker City, Canyon City, Linkville and 
Pendleton. 

(2.) In Washington Territory the principal towns are 
Olympia, the capital — 1,300 inhabitants ; Seattle, 3,000 ; 
Steilacoom, Port Townsend, Port Madison, Bellingham — all 



39 

on Puget Sound. Kalama and Vancouver are on the Co- 
lumbia river. The latter is only eight miles from Portland 
by land, and is noted- for its schools and especially famed for 
its nurseries of fruit trees. Walla Walla, in Eastern Wash- 
ington, has 3,500 inhabitants ; and Dayton, Colfax, Almota 
and Waitsburg are agricultural towns in Eastern Washington, 

GOVERNMENT LANDS FOR SETTLEMENT. 

In Western Oregon the public vacant lands are nearly all 
timbered or in brush located at the foot of the Coast and 
Cascade ranges, where also is found School State land of the 
same description, all which are suitable, when cleared, for 
raising wheat, fruit, or any other agricultural product. On 
the coast of Oregon is also found similar Government land. 
In Douglas, Jackson, Josephine and Lake counties, in South- 
western Oregon, there are various large tracts of Govern- 
ment cleared and uncleared land open for settlement. But it 
is in Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory 
where are yet to be found immense bodies of vacant agricul- 
tural cleared lands open for pre-emption, homestead or pur- 
chase, and it is there where now the tide of immigration is 
flowing each year in anticipation of the Northern Pacific 
and other railroads projected in these districts. In Columbia, 
Whitman, Union and Umatilla counties some of the most 
picturesque and fertile prairie valleys are found, traversed by 
several streams, which possess deep and rich alluvial soil, 
some of which lands contain an area of from 30 to 600 square 
miles, and all are sparsely settled, Grand Ronde and Wal- 
lowa valleys in Oregon, and Lewiston, Palouse and Walla 
Walla valleys in Washington Territory being the most 
important. The latter, however (Walla Walla), is nearly all 
settled up. These lands are ready for the plow and will 
produce from 20 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre first year. 
Abundant facilities exist for ascertaining and procuring the 
character of whatever vacant Government land may be 
wanted in the State, as there are several U. S. land offices at 
Oregon City and Roseburg in Western Oregon, Linkville in 
Southeastern Oregon, La Grande in Eastern Oregon, Walla 
Walla and Colfax in Eastern Washington, at which offices 
immigrants and strangers to the country should apply on 
arrival for information. 

VALLEYS IN EASTERN OREGON AND EASTERN 
WASHINGTON SUITED FOR ACRIGULTURE. 

One can scarcely imagine the numerous little valleys suited 
for agriculture scattered all over the North Pacific Coast, in 



40 



area four or five times that of Western Oregon lands proper. 
We subjoin a list of valleys of some importance in Eastern 
Oregon and in Washington Territory, and their extent. 

Name of valley. Length. Breadth. Population. 

Josephine .25 5 500 

Klamath 50 15 300 ■ 

John Day 50 10 300 

Willow Creek 30 S 100 

Birch Creek 25 6 joo 

Umatilla 30 35 1,400 

Pine Creek 10 15 50 

Walla Walla 30 28 12,000 

Grand Ronde 20 20 1 ?75° 

Powder River 10 5 135 

Jordan River 25 5 150 

Willow Creek 10 5 135 

Burnt River S ^ 15 

Touchet 40 ^ 2,000 

Tukannon 20 5 200 

A1 P owa J 5 3 35 

Palouse 100 25 3?7°° 

Pataha 10 3 5 

Columbia Basin ( W. T.) 100 So 6,000 

" " (Oregon) 26 10 2 ?35° 

Yakima 100 10 1,^00 

Spokane 15 10 380 

It must be remembered that these are all prairie valleys, 
destitute of timber, having on an average not so much timber 
as will be requisite for use, and exclude the sheep hill lands, 
which are double the extent of these valleys. These valleys 
produced 45,000 tons of wheat in 1878, and the population is 
now so much increased that in 1SS0 the wheat production 
will be from 70,000 to 90,000 tons. These lands are capable 
of producing 500,000 tons of wheat yearly, if they had the 
necessary population to do so. Unlike Western Oregon, 
timber is very scarce in Eastern Oregon, and can only be 
obtained by going back into the mountains. 



ABSTRACT OF OREGON EXPORTS 

For the Year Ending August i, 1878, 

Compared with Preceding Year. 



Taken from the Records of the Board of Trade of Portland, 

Oregon. 



1877-8. 1876-7. 
1. — Salmon exports to San Francisco, 2d August, 

1877, to 12th January, 1878, and April to July 

31, 1878, 171,327 cases ; value $ 980,956 $ 1,750,350 

2. — Wheat, Flour, Oats, Hops, Potatoes, 

Lumber, Hides, Pickled Salmon, 

Treasure, and all other domestic products, 

except coal and wool, from Columbia River 

to San Francisco ; value 3,765,687 2,332,000 

3.— Coals to San Francisco from Coos Bay ; 

value 218,410 317,475 

4. — Lumber and other products from Coos Bay 

and coast of Oregon 151, 134 173,367 

5. — W'ool exports, via San Francisco ; value . . . 998,305 756,000 

Total via San Francisco $ 6, 124,491 $ 5,329, 192 

6. — Wheat and Flour exports direct to United 
Kingdom, 112,697 tons Wheat, 32,617 bar- 
rels Plour ; value 4,872,027 3,552,000 

7. — Canned Salmon exports direct from the 

Columbia River to Great Britain, as follows : 

Aug. 4, "British Army," 54,475 cases ; Aug. 

- 26, "City of Amoy," 11,003 cases ; April 4, 

1878, "Jeannie Landles," 3,800 cases ; June 
7, 1878, "Barracouta," 20,505 cases; June 
— , "Ardendee," 25,800 cases ; June 15, "G 
F. Muntz," 41,350 cases ; July 20, "City of 
Halifax," 35,525 casess; July 25, "Dovenby," 
28,650 case ; total direct shipments, 221,108 

cases ; value 1,326,056 737> 8 3 6 

8. — Beef and Mutton exports— canned and un- 

canned ; value I33> 8 95 3^5,733 

9. — Wheat, Flour and other products exported 

to Sandwich Islands, Puget Sound, British 

Columbia, Alaska and elsewhere ; value . . . 637,636 386,600 

10. — Gold and Silver (products of Oregon mines) 

exported for the year ending August 1, 1878 1,280,867 1,200,000 
11.— Other products, principally cattle to Eastern 

States 270,000 

Total Oregon exports $14,644,973 $u,57 I .3SS 

Increase in value of exports of 1877-8 over 1876 7 $ 3,073,618 



